


GLASS BEAD UNIVERSE: Another Blade of Grass

by JaguarMirror



Series: Glass Bead Universe [10]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Fluff, Interlude, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:49:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29774361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaguarMirror/pseuds/JaguarMirror
Relationships: Flynn Fairwind/Mathias Shaw
Series: Glass Bead Universe [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916869
Comments: 14
Kudos: 31





	GLASS BEAD UNIVERSE: Another Blade of Grass

“I thought I was going to have to come in and pry you out of there by hand.” Mathias smiled at Flynn, who emerged from the library, tucking a notepad into the pocket of his old green greatcoat. 

“And miss lunch with you? I’d cut my own arm off first. And possibly some other parts as well but definitely an arm or two.” He gave a somewhat cursory glance around and then leaned in to give Mathias a smooch on the cheek, blatantly ignoring the stares and smiles of others in the little garden. “This is a lovely surprise. I take it that Himself is off dining with the Wolf somewhere?”

“Yes. They don’t need me around for that.”

“So where are we going?” Flynn asked as they walked toward the open promenade beside the library and turned right.

“Not far. Just to the pond.” 

“Picnic, eh? That’ll give the gawkers at Little Pandaria quite a thrill. Particularly if we have to jump down to get there. Not that I mind water, but that’s a long drop”

“We’ll take the back way. I’ve been in meetings all morning and there’s people I really don’t want to run into.” He nodded to the guard standing at the end of the walkway and unlocked the narrow wooden door. 

“Was Genn barking at you, then? What you might call a ‘ruff’ day?”

“People who pun at spymasters don’t get lunch.” Their footsteps echoed hollowly on the stairs.

“Oh, I see where this is going. You’re no pun. No pun at all.”

“Fairwind…”

Laughter and a roguish wink answered him.

The morning chill had gone and the pond basked in the warmth of the early afternoon sunlight. Three ravens were stalking across the lawn, keeping a wary eye on the two men as Mathias led the way to a large, tree-shaded stone near the walls of the keep. He reached behind the rock and pulled out a small metal pail and pulled the lid open as the ravens watched with cocked heads and possibly hopeful expressions. It was hard to tell with birds.

“Lunch,” he said and patted the warm stone invitingly. 

Flynn seated himself primly and folded his hands on his knees. “Someone’s been planning things.” Dimples flashed as he grinned.

“Perhaps.” Mathias smiled as he sorted through the lunch pail. He fished out a sandwich and handed it to Flynn along with a bottle of ale; a casual gesture that hid his nervousness. 

He’d spent the entire week planning this little spontaneous picnic with the help of one of Anduin’s pages who had family in Boralas. As with any spy mission, he’d fussed over the smallest details while realizing that, just like a real spy mission, events could take a far different turn than he’d intended. Mathias Shaw was a man who usually liked things to be tidy and predictable -- though Flynn was a solid exception to those rules. Flynn was unpredictable and Mathias thought that made him completely fascinating.

Flynn unwrapped the sandwich and lifted up the top slice of bread. “Is that swamp fish? Because it sure looks like swamp fish and greens.” He took a large bite and chewed enthusiastically as Mathias unwrapped his own lunch. “Tastes like proper Kul Tiras swamp fish, too. Mmmm!”

“It should.”

His eyes widened. “From Boralus?”

“Special order.”

Flynn’s cheeks dimpled and he batted his eyes flirtatiously. “I don’t suppose there’s chips hiding somewhere nearby, is there?”

Mathias reached back into the pail and brought out a large paper bag stamped with a red-colored shop logo. “Properly fried in fish oil, too.”

“Oh look at that! It’s from the Octopus! Jaela makes the best chips -- always uses Lane Snapper oil. Not the cheap mixed oils that some use.” He reached in and pulled out a chip and stuffed it into his mouth. He closed his eyes and smiled blissfully. “Mmm. Heavenly. Just like home.”

Home, indeed -- but where was home for the sailor these days? He’d been in Stormwind for six months, a child of the seas now bound to land. So far he seemed content but there were days when Mathias caught him looking toward the harbor with a trace of what might have been wistfulness. 

The three castle ravens were easing toward them now, as if they wanted to eavesdrop. He tossed them three bites of bread and then took a bite out of his own sandwich. There was a croak from the oldest bird that might have been approval for the offering.

“Things are winding up now -- I think I’ve got the security sorted out and right now the Scarlets have gone quiet without their leader. Aysa and Valeera are moving out of the royal suite tonight and Wrathion’s already taken a portal to Silithus. Unless there’s an emergency, we should move out of the royal suite at the end of the week.”

Flynn nodded, chewing enthusiastically. “Mmm. I’ll miss that bed when we go back to your flat.”

It was as good an opening as he could hope for. “Did I ever tell you how I got that apartment?” he said quickly before Flynn started making a list of what he’d miss. 

“Nope.” Flynn eyed him as he licked oil and salt from his fingers and then busied himself with the chips.

Mathias drew a deep breath. “It was early days at SI:7 and I was still sleeping in the barracks and eating at the canteen. Ren used to scold me about it, but I was used to being right there at SI:7 whenever anything happened and there didn’t seem to be any reason to waste money on a place to live.”

“I can see that, actually. There’s days when I think that the only thing that’ll get you out of your office is a big charge of seaforium, and maybe not even then.” Flynn seemed to have an uncanny ability to focus on the very heart of any situation -- without pointing at someone to blame. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of Mathias’ eyes. “But I know how busy things are for you, love.”

“It’s always been like that, I’m afraid” It was a guilty sort of truth. Over the years he had become a finely honed blade in service of the Crown; a life that had become focused on duty above everything else. “I was even worse about it back when I first took over SI:7,” he admitted.

“Must have been an easy thing to do, with nowhere in particular to go and no one to go home to.”

“It was until a cat changed things.”

“A cat? Really?” 

“One day as I headed back to SI:7, an old black cat walked out of the alley and followed me all the way to the office, meowing as if she was talking to me. I gave her some of the meat pie I bought for the stable cats and for the ravens and then went in to bed and thought no more of it. But when I came out in the morning to go to exercise, she was waiting. We walked to the field together and she meowed and chittered advice. She waited until I finished and followed me back, talking to me like she was giving me pointers on my style. Ren and I laughed about it and figured we’d make her the official SI:7 cat. We all fed her, but I was the only one she was interested in.”

Flynn’s eyes lit up. “Oh! She’s a Luck Cat! That’s amazing. They’re rare as anything. Up around Boralus we say that if a Luck Cat finds you, it’ll give you luck all your days.” Flynn reached out and brushed Mathias’ nose with a finger tip. “And they only come to worthy people.” 

“I don’t know about worthy, but after two weeks of her greeting me and following me around and talking to me, it finally hit me that in her mind, I was _her human_ ; and the only thing she wanted was to be mine. So I looked for an apartment that was big enough for me and a cat and came up with that one. She loved it. We made a home together.”

“Luck Cats don’t run off.” Flynn’s expression was somber.

“No, they don’t. She stayed with me until she died about ten years ago. Buried her out by SI:7 headquarters. I still stop and talk to her sometimes.”

“Ahh. That’s a lovely story. I’d like to go see her sometime.”

Mathias held out the piece of grass that he’d palmed earlier, feeling nervous about his little planned speech. “I think I’ve got another Luck Cat, though.”

“Oh?”

“Well, not quite a cat. You see, there’s this Kul’Tiran who’s been following me around and talking to me for six months. He’s funny and kind and gives me advice even when I’m too stubborn to listen and he hasn’t run off even when I’m unreasonable and when I work late. He seems to love me anyway.” 

“A Kul’Tiran? I’ll smack him in the nose.”

He sighed and then laughed and took the only tack that would shut Flynn up -- pulling him into a long kiss that left them both breathless. “I want to find an apartment big enough for the two of us,” he said and then kissed Flynn again. “Big enough for a bed that’s a proper size for a Kul’Tiran. One with a big enough kitchen and bathroom for both of us. Not a place where you’re adjusting your life and your possessions around me, but a place that we share together.”

And having gotten that far, he ran out of words. There should be an elegant finish -- something like “Be mine” or “I can’t live without you” but he couldn’t find anything that seemed a good fit. So he held the blade of grass out, his fingers trembling slightly, holding his breath.

Flynn’s hand closed over his, folding the grass between their fingers. “Ah, sweetling. My heart was yours from the moment Wyrmbane assigned me to report to you. I’d live in a cave or a hole in the dirt if it meant I could be with you.”

It was a lovely sentiment, and typically Flynn. Words and expressions didn’t come easily to Mathias after half a lifetime under Pathonia’s strict rules, but some rules were meant to be broken. He kissed Flynn again, there on the rock beside the pond, and the ravens bobbed and nodded along the grass as if they knew all along that things would turn out just this way.


End file.
